Looking for My Auberge Espagnole

I sent out my first little queries to people renting apartments in Pamplona last night. Oddly enough, this is the part of planning that's been freaking me out the most... because, I dunno, it's the sort of thing that you don't really do long distance - and I have to do it long distance. And because I've never looked for and signed in apartment before, period, not in English, not in America, nothing, so I have to cope with complications even as I tackle the basic concept for the first time.

I find that I really don't care much about the apartment. What I mean is, I've never chosen where to live before, really, and I know I'm not all that picky. If the apartment is drafty, I'll put on more clothes. If it's hot, that's a bit tougher but I'll be there in fall semester, so I can cope for a bit - just pretend I'm at summer camp and wear lots of deodorant. Yummy. If the apartment is untidy, I really really don't care. If the apartment is actually dirty, even then I don't mind terribly unless it is smelly or unhealthy (the kitchen or the bathroom is filthy and resists efforts to keep it to a reasonable standard)... and I'm living with girls, so I doubt it'll be too big of an issue. Spanish apartment prices are pretty low, so while I'm looking for a reasonable value, I don't have to spend hours trying to find the lowest possible rent.

I'm looking through the pictures and the listings and I can imagine myself in all of these different apartments. It's only for a few months, anyway, I feel I can handle anything for so long! Obsessing over finding the perfect perfect place probably would only increase my chances of disappointment if the place is not perfect, and of course it won't be. But if things are good, then how nice, it's luxurious - if they're not so good, then meh, it's a bit of a character builder, an experience - if they border on the comically horrific, then it's still a story, right? And it's still only for a few months. "One time, I lived in Spain, in a Maison Ikkoku, an Auberge Espagnole both literally and figuratively..."

Still, I had to draw up at least a few preferences to narrow my choices down - it was that or flip coins. I looked through the ads on the Unav website. First I searched for shared apartments who were looking for a female roommate. Then, I asked Jorge about good areas, compared walking times, and started my search by looking in Iturrama, with the idea that the closer the places were to campus, the better, and they also got a few points if they were near the Parque Yamaguchi. Internet was the one facility I absolutely could not compromise on, so all places without internet were automatically out. Then, I took out any apartments that were in the overpriced range (seemed as if they would top 350 a month with utilities). Now, this was all I felt that I really needed - girls, close to campus, internet, not too expensive. And I only had about 40 ads to wade through! :) I had to get pickier.

I spent some time chatting with Lucia and trying to decide how else to sort through the pile. I decided to cut out all the ones that didn't have pictures - this was about half the listings. Although it would be easy enough to ask for pictures, by the time I did so they would know that I would be agreeing to the apartment long distance - I feel that pictures posted in advance of this knowledge might be more trustworthy, and anyway I still had enough choices to be flexible. I went through again and scrutinized lists of facilities, ruthlessly cutting those that, for example, had no central heating. I looked at the fine print and canceled the ones that seemed just too complicated - one seemed to be saying that it was for rent every month but October?

In the end I'd become pickier, and ended up with about 12 listings. Not terrible. I sorted these into good (4), better (4), and best (2) piles. The good ones were fine, but the better and best ones had slightly more ideal locations, sometimes lower prices, and sometimes even perks like a sauna or a private balcony. I emailed the 2 listings in the best category first and I'm planning to give them a few days to respond before I start emailing the better people too. I'm asking for more info, whether they'd be okay with an international student staying only one semester, what I would need to do before arriving, for more pictures, etc.

I'm lucky to have such great friends helping me with everything I do - Jorge for Pamplona advice, Allan for big kid advice (finding an apartment? Oh noes!) and Lucia for Spanish correction etc. ^^ It really is a comfort.

I'm very excited and yet not at the same time, at least in the stereotypical sense. I am 100% confident that I will love being in Spain, but I do believe that I'm going and it does feel real. I've been preparing for this for a long time, in lesser and greater ways, and I've travelled enough and learned enough about what I'm capable of that it takes some of the radical, chaotic nerves and excitement out of the situation. I'm not jumping up and down and shrieking about going to Spain - it's more of a big smile of anticipation.

Besides, I'm enjoying my life right now too in a way - the preparation time was much needed, it's nice to rest up, to cook for my family and help around the house, spend time with mom and dad and Tidbit, and see Melissa graduate high school. We moved her into college today and that's in most ways a bigger step than I'm taking by moving to Spain, I'm not going to miss any of that by being too blinded by excitement by what's coming up next.

Summer Begins

We got done with Reslife relatively early - 10pm on Saturday. Tina and I ate my last frozen curry meal in the kitchen and she took a black sharpie and wrote my name on her stomach, and then I took it and did the same, using a little mole for the i. And we were sad, a little bit. The whole weekend when I was moving out it was wet and cool for May. I went to the lake with mom and dad and I sorted some of my crap out, helped dad with dry-wall, went on a canoe ride or two, and worked on my papers. On Tuesday I said goodbye to a misty Missouri morning, drove to Columbia, dumped off my last library books and said goodbye to Monica (^^), and then flew into Florida where I instantly became 'a northerner' in my long pants and plaid shirt. Whatever. I've never been tropical and I don't claim or wish to be.

But Florida does have its charms. Dad bought a boat here. It's a small fishing boat and a bit rickety and makes me nervous when we're going at top speed and hit a wake, especially when I'm holding onto Tidbit. I could just go into jetski mentality and hold on and enjoy the ride, but I'm not 100% confident in any part of the boat's construction, and so I have little images going through my head of the entire front seat snapping off when we hit some wave and sending me, Tidbit, and the chair into the water. Still, it's nice to feel the wind on my face. I've always liked boats for that.

It's good to be back home with Tidbit. Mom's always lamenting that Tidbit's growing old, but other than the white face I don't really see if. She's become more of a beggar which can be annoying, thanks to mom feeding her the occasional piece of salmon skin, popcorn, tortilla chip, etc. Mom just wants to spoil her in her old age but I don't necessarily like the effect it's had on her personality. Still, she runs when she wants to, that funny, off-center sort of run she has where her body rolls a little bit with every stride. And her tail seems to always be wagging. I've missed her.

The next month I'll spend cooking, getting ready for Liisa and the road trip, getting ready for Scotland and study abroad. I have bags to pack, cds to burn, airfare and hotels to book, cameras to buy, and a lot of Skyping to do. The next month, though, is mostly lazy - along with a few celebrations in Melissa's behalf. She's graduating from high school, having her party, turning 18, and starting college at the University of South Florida - St. Petersburg. So that'll all be nice.

Melissa's Visit

Melissa came up to visit me for the weekend. It was a lot of fun - she met all of my friends and visited most of my favourite places. We made a lot of jokes about being Valentine dates, and ate rediculous amounts of frozen yogurt.

Here we are at Rockbridge! From left: Me, Melissa,, Zahra, Sarah, and Jenny.

Here we are in the Devil's Icebox! :)

<3 you sissie.

May is Insane

Yesterday I woke up from a sleepover, worked a garage sale, attended my sisters confirmation, went out to eat at her congratulatory dinner, drove to my grandmothers house, went to my cousins congratulatory dinner for graduating college, and then crashed on a tiny cot. We were even planning to drive back home yesterday night so that I could teach sunday school this morning, but we ditched that plan, and wisely! Now Ill be up all night doing my Spanish Homework.

Hangman

Played Hangman with my sister - quite fun for about half an hour.
The results:

Melissa: Taxes
This one threw me for a bit of a spin because you expect a long a and a solid consonant.

Me: Sophomoric
She got this one with a bit of time to spare.

Melissa: Hypothesis
This one didnt take long despite her forgetting to put up the second h.

Me: Reminescent
She could have gotten this one, but lost it and guessed w instead of m on the last guess.

Melissa: Perpendicular
This one bugged me, but after a few letters I looked at it a while and produced it straight out.

Me: Qat (An Arabian Shrub)
I couldn't resist...